Lone Star Audio Fest 2019

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  • erniejade
    erniejade Posts: 6,288
    Both i say!
    Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista 300, Audioquest Thunderbird Zero Speaker Cable, Tyler Highland H2, Audioquest Thunderbird Interconnect, Innuos Zen MK3 W4S recovery, Revolution Audio Labs USB & Ethernet, Border Patrol SE-I, Audioquest Niagara 5000 & Thunder, Cullen Crossover II PC's.
  • indyhawg
    indyhawg Posts: 1,633
    edited May 2019
    erniejade wrote: »
    I should have enough southwest points by then for a flight. I just need to book on advanced for decent rates. Thats what stopped me this year. When i decided to go, rates were too high because it was too close to the date.

    That was what happened to me as well. Airfare was ridiculously expensive.
    Hotels in that area are very reasonable though.
  • gudnoyez
    gudnoyez Posts: 8,056
    edited May 2019
    When did Airfares go up? I got a roundtrip flight late March to San Diego with a connecting flight through Dallas for $570.00. I just checked on one the other day to San Diego again to send my Grandson for a couple of weeks and got a $587.00 flight. I did notice it's cheaper if you plan on staying more than a couple of days though, not sure why that would matter.

    I'm guessing a round trip flight from Moline or Cedar Rapids would be around $300 or so, I will have to look, of course booking in advance always help. I would love to attend LSAF, maybe I should schedule my next trip to San Diego around next years show with a couple of days to hang out with you guys what are the dates for next Year?
    Home Theater
    Parasound Halo A 31 OnkyoTX-NR838 Sony XBR55X850B 55" 4K RtiA9 Fronts CsiA6 Center RtiA3 Rears FxiA6 Side Surrounds Dual Psw 111's Oppo 105D Signal Ultra Speaker Cables & IC's Signal Magic Power Cable Technics SL Q300 Panamax MR4300 Audioquest Chocolate HDMI Cables Audioquest Forest USB Cable

    2 Channel
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    Stuff for the Head
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  • erniejade
    erniejade Posts: 6,288
    I looked at flights from Chicago to Dallas 4-5 months out for a price comparison and they ran 100-170$ each way. On southwest, they ran from 99-180 each way vs 250-400 each way trying to book 2 weeks ago. I just need to plan earlier.
    Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista 300, Audioquest Thunderbird Zero Speaker Cable, Tyler Highland H2, Audioquest Thunderbird Interconnect, Innuos Zen MK3 W4S recovery, Revolution Audio Labs USB & Ethernet, Border Patrol SE-I, Audioquest Niagara 5000 & Thunder, Cullen Crossover II PC's.
  • displayname
    displayname Posts: 1,126
    I'll probably type up more details later, but I wanted to toss those pics in here while I had a chance.
    LSAF is insanely fun! It was great getting to meet some more polkies and hear a ton of gear. Thank you to all the more seasoned guys for taking me in and showing me the ropes. Also for the generous amounts of booze provided! Getting to hang out with everyone and chatting was the real fun of the day for sure. It was also really cool getting to have some more extended conversations with Gunny from Sonner and Josh from JWM Acoustics.

    I will certainly be going again, and I'll probably make a stronger effort to get a room for at least one night. Quite a few rooms stood out to me, and the whole experience made me appreciate my system as well. Always room for improvement, but I'm pretty happy with what I've built with my current investment.

    My personal favorites where Skip's main room (Norma and Rosso) and the JWM Acoustics room. I actually told Josh if I was there looking to buy, I would have a really hard time deciding between those two systems. Obviously that's before any price was factored in, purely based on the sound I heard at the show.

    Awesome time, and thanks to everyone involved!
    Analog: MoFi MasterTracker > MoFi UltraDeck > Sutherland 20/20
    Digital: Cambridge CXC / Streaming > Cambridge CXN v2
    MastersounD Dueventi > Rosso Fiorentino Certaldo or Arcam rHead > Hifiman HE4XX
    Discogs
  • nooshinjohn
    nooshinjohn Posts: 25,034
    Did Frank Malitz show up? :p
    The Gear... Carver "Statement" Mono-blocks, Mcintosh C2300 Arcam AVR20, Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player, Sony XBR70x850B 4k, Polk Audio Legend L800 with height modules, L400 Center Channel Polk audio AB800 "in-wall" surrounds. Marantz MM7025 stereo amp. Simaudio Moon 680d DSD

    “When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.”— Thomas Jefferson
  • treitz3
    treitz3 Posts: 18,230
    No.

    Tom
    ~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~
  • verb
    verb Posts: 10,176
    I'll probably type up more details later, but I wanted to toss those pics in here while I had a chance.
    LSAF is insanely fun! It was great getting to meet some more polkies and hear a ton of gear. Thank you to all the more seasoned guys for taking me in and showing me the ropes. Also for the generous amounts of booze provided! Getting to hang out with everyone and chatting was the real fun of the day for sure. It was also really cool getting to have some more extended conversations with Gunny from Sonner and Josh from JWM Acoustics.

    I will certainly be going again, and I'll probably make a stronger effort to get a room for at least one night. Quite a few rooms stood out to me, and the whole experience made me appreciate my system as well. Always room for improvement, but I'm pretty happy with what I've built with my current investment.

    My personal favorites where Skip's main room (Norma and Rosso) and the JWM Acoustics room. I actually told Josh if I was there looking to buy, I would have a really hard time deciding between those two systems. Obviously that's before any price was factored in, purely based on the sound I heard at the show.

    Awesome time, and thanks to everyone involved!

    Thanks for posting the pics! Looking forward to your impressions! :smile:
    Basement: Polk SDA SRS 1.2tl's, Cary SLP-05 Pre with ultimate upgrade,McIntosh MCD301 CD/SACD player, Northstar Designs Excelsio DAC, Cambridge 851N streamer, McIntosh MC300 Amp, Silnote Morpheus Ref2, Series2 Digital Cables, Silnote Morpheus Ref2 Series2 XLR's, Furman 15PFi Power Conditioner, Pangea Power Cables, MIT Shotgun S3 IC's, MIT Shotgun S1 Bi-Wire speaker cables
    Office: PC, EAR Acute CD Player, EAR 834L Pre, Northstar Designs Intenso DAC, Antique Sound Labs AV8 Monoblocks, Denon UDR-F10 Cassette, Acoustic Technologies Classic FR Speakers, SVS SB12 Plus sub, MIT AVt2 speaker cables, IFI Purifier2, AQ Cinnamon USB cable, Groneberg Quatro Reference IC's
    Spare Room: Dayens Ampino Integrated Amp, Tjoeb 99 tube CD player (modified Marantz CD-38), Analysis Plus Oval 9's, Zu Jumpers, AudioEngine B1 Streamer, Klipsch RB-61 v2, SVS PB1000 sub, Blue Jeans RCA IC's, Shunyata Hydra 8 Power Conditioner
    Living Room: Peachtree Nova Integrated, Cambridge CXN v2 Streamer, Rotel RCD-1072 CD player, Furman 15PFi Power Conditioner, Polk RT265 In Wall Speakers, Polk DSW Pro 660wi sub
    Garage #1: Cambridge Audio 640A Integrated Amp, Project Box-E BT Streamer, Polk Tsi200 Bookies, Douglas Speaker Cables, Shunyata Power Conditioner
    Garage #2: Cambridge Audio EVO150 Integrated Amplifier, Polk L200's, Analysis Plus Silver Oval 2 Speaker Cables, IC's TBD.
  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,517
    ZLTFUL wrote: »
    Looks like I might be getting a blurb from Positive Feedback. Spent a good 2 hours with one of the gentlemen who writes for them just jamming out.

    Step 1 to becoming a audio dealer/distributor lol....
    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
  • kharp1
    kharp1 Posts: 3,453
    Yes, Josh does usually have far more money on his front end than most have in their entire room. To put together a system that is sonically equal, or slightly better, for a fraction of the cost of his is quite a feat. Congrats. Wish I could have been there.
  • erniejade
    erniejade Posts: 6,288
    Was gunny using Norma?
    Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista 300, Audioquest Thunderbird Zero Speaker Cable, Tyler Highland H2, Audioquest Thunderbird Interconnect, Innuos Zen MK3 W4S recovery, Revolution Audio Labs USB & Ethernet, Border Patrol SE-I, Audioquest Niagara 5000 & Thunder, Cullen Crossover II PC's.
  • erniejade
    erniejade Posts: 6,288
    Nice skip. After hearing norma vs another brand, i am definitely a norma fan.
    Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista 300, Audioquest Thunderbird Zero Speaker Cable, Tyler Highland H2, Audioquest Thunderbird Interconnect, Innuos Zen MK3 W4S recovery, Revolution Audio Labs USB & Ethernet, Border Patrol SE-I, Audioquest Niagara 5000 & Thunder, Cullen Crossover II PC's.
  • PSOVLSK
    PSOVLSK Posts: 5,021
    Skip's room was phenomenal, yet I spent most of the day Friday in the room next door listening to the new Usher bookshelves and enjoying some great conversation with Daryl (and for a good part of the time, Marvin). I suppose that speaks volumes to my standing as an audiophile :#

    I didn't visit every room, but my favorites were:
    1) Audio Thesis
    2) JMW
    3) Stereo Clarity
    4) Sonner Audio
    5) Volti Audio

    Probably in that order, but I could possibly flip-flop 1 and 2 as well as 3 and 4.

    Wish I could have stayed and spent the day Saturday as I had originally planned so that I could have spent more time with those of you I know and hopefully gotten to know some of that I don't know. I did enjoy my dinner at Ten50 on Friday night. My first time there and it didn't disappoint (though it did take a little more out of my wallet than I had planned :D ).

    Things work out best for those who make the best of the way things work out.-John Wooden
  • HzTweaker
    HzTweaker Posts: 723
    @displayname thanks for posting the pics!

    I seen quite a few ring radiator tweeters in those set ups.

    Just my taste but when I went to LASF I really like the sound of Stereo Clarity's towers that are placed behind the ones that are currently playing in the photo. Not the liked the most out of all the offerings at the show, but they make a sound I like and not outrageously priced IMO.

    I will not be missing LASF next year!
    2ch rig:Speakers: LSi9s with VR3's Fortress modsPreamplifier: Parasound P5Amplifier: Parasound A23CDP: Pioneer DV-563ACables: Wireworld Equinox 7 XLR ICs, Wireworld Ultraviolet 7 USB, AudioQuest Q2s, AudioQuest NRG X(preamp)
  • Milito
    Milito Posts: 1,907
    I hope I can make it next year.
    Yamaha RX-A2070, Musical Fidelity M6si integrated amp, Benchmark Dac1, Bluesound NODE 2i, Audiolab 6000CDT CD Transport, Parasound Zphono USB Phono Preamp, Fluance RT85, Ortofon 2M Bronze, Polk L600's, L400, L900's, RC80i's, SVS 3000 Micro, Audioquest Interconnects and Digital Cables, Nordost Silver Shadow Digital Cable, Cullen Gold and Crossover Series Power Cables, Douglas Connection Alpha 12AWG OCC Speaker Cables, Douglas Connection Alpha Analog Interconnect Cables, Douglas Connection Alpha 11 OCC Custom Power Cable, Signal Power Cable, Furman PL-8C 15 Power Conditioner, Sony 65" 900F, Sony UBP-X700, Fios, Apple TV 4K, Audioquest Chocolate HDMI Cables.
  • Clipdat
    Clipdat Posts: 12,557
    Thank you @displayname for taking and posting the photos, appreciate it!
  • marvda1
    marvda1 Posts: 4,862
    Amplifiers: Norma IPA 140, MasterSound Compact 845, Ayre v6xe, Consonance Cyber 800
    Preamp: deHavilland Ultraverve 3
    Dac: Sonnet Morpheus 2, Musical Paradise mp-d2 mkIII
    Transport: Jay's Audio CDT2 mk2, Lumin U1 mini
    Speakers: Rosso Fiorentino Volterra II
    Speaker Cables: Organic Audio Organic Reference 2
    Interconnects: Argento Organic Reference 2, Argento Organic 2
    Power Cables: Argento Organic Reference, Synergistic Research Foundation 10 and 12 ga.
    Puritan PSM156
  • marvda1
    marvda1 Posts: 4,862
    DSkip wrote: »
    I'll probably type up more details later, but I wanted to toss those pics in here while I had a chance.
    LSAF is insanely fun! It was great getting to meet some more polkies and hear a ton of gear. Thank you to all the more seasoned guys for taking me in and showing me the ropes. Also for the generous amounts of booze provided! Getting to hang out with everyone and chatting was the real fun of the day for sure. It was also really cool getting to have some more extended conversations with Gunny from Sonner and Josh from JWM Acoustics.

    I will certainly be going again, and I'll probably make a stronger effort to get a room for at least one night. Quite a few rooms stood out to me, and the whole experience made me appreciate my system as well. Always room for improvement, but I'm pretty happy with what I've built with my current investment.

    My personal favorites where Skip's main room (Norma and Rosso) and the JWM Acoustics room. I actually told Josh if I was there looking to buy, I would have a really hard time deciding between those two systems. Obviously that's before any price was factored in, purely based on the sound I heard at the show.

    Awesome time, and thanks to everyone involved!

    Josh is a master at the show. He always has good sound and is usually the benchmark for me as far as competition goes. I didn’t get to spend much of any time in his room this year and I’m disappointed.

    I take your statement as a great compliment given his dac was the same cost as all of my front end added together.

    As for the show, I made it around to almost every room and did my best to be a social butterfly. I was up until 4:00 am every night and had a blast. I just got home though and my body is telling me what a fool I was. Saturday night Danny Richie and I got into some pretty involved conversations and A/Bed some gear. I also had an attendee want to A/B USB cables that night so it was a lot of switching gear around.

    I want to give massive props to Voltz again. The man is a trooper and will go out of his way to do anything for anyone. If not for him I might still be at the hotel boxing things up. Gunny from Sonner was also a great help.

    Ryan helped me big time with some networking issues I was having and without that my show would’ve been much more difficult. Thanks brother!

    Cheers to all you guys. I didn’t get to see any of you as much as I would have liked but it’s still great seeing all your ugly mugs.

    skip, i beg to differ, i think josh should follow your model more. josh does have a formula, expensive equipment (awe factor), lots of bass ( awe factor), loud party volume (awe factor,(awe factor) and sprinkle in some sparkle. all this on first listen or to a novice in audio will really impress but where's the spacial cues that give you a sense of sound stage depth, height, or width? where are the nuances and textures of instruments and voices?
    great studio speakers.
    Amplifiers: Norma IPA 140, MasterSound Compact 845, Ayre v6xe, Consonance Cyber 800
    Preamp: deHavilland Ultraverve 3
    Dac: Sonnet Morpheus 2, Musical Paradise mp-d2 mkIII
    Transport: Jay's Audio CDT2 mk2, Lumin U1 mini
    Speakers: Rosso Fiorentino Volterra II
    Speaker Cables: Organic Audio Organic Reference 2
    Interconnects: Argento Organic Reference 2, Argento Organic 2
    Power Cables: Argento Organic Reference, Synergistic Research Foundation 10 and 12 ga.
    Puritan PSM156
  • displayname
    displayname Posts: 1,126
    Some other general impressions from the show.
    Obviously I talked about the ones that impacted me the most first. Skip, Josh and Gunny know what they are doing. Having all those rooms in row made for a powerhouse of talent.

    Not going to talk about everything, just the stuff that stuck out in my mind.

    The Volti audio system was very cool. They are huge, but I enjoyed the time I spent in that room. I was expecting the massive horns and separate bass module to overload the room, but it was really comfortable and smooth in there. I would be very interested to try out their smaller speakers, particularly the Rival.

    I liked how Raven audio had their amps in 4 different rooms so you could get a sense of them on various gear. All in all, quality amps that seem worth considering. I didn't care as much for their speakers, particularly in the flagship room. Might have been a difficult set up issue, might have just not been my taste. I also liked their entry level room. Pretty solid system they they said comes in at around $7k for everything - cords, speakers, dac, amp. Seemed like a solid value for the price point.

    The Pi speakers in my opinion held their center image remarkably well, especially considering they had the big entertainment stand and TV right in the middle.

    I've been curious about Tekton, so I was to see some there. Not my favorite, but when you consider the $1600 price point... well then they are more interesting. Certainly worth considering if you have space and tighter budget.

    On the value side, Selah Audio was another stand out. I was expecting their big bookshelves speakers to cost a lot more, and the 2,300(???) price point impressed me.

    Supra Hifi's room was another really fun one. I didn't spend too much time in there, but that's a group I'd trust to put together a quality system. I didn't dig too much into their gear list, and I get feeling they fall on the higher end of a price sheet, but it was a memorable system.

    Like I said, if I was looking to spend I'd be calling Skip and Josh and spending more time with their stuff. Now that I have some more insight in the prices of their gear... I'd be calling Skip first, lol.
    Analog: MoFi MasterTracker > MoFi UltraDeck > Sutherland 20/20
    Digital: Cambridge CXC / Streaming > Cambridge CXN v2
    MastersounD Dueventi > Rosso Fiorentino Certaldo or Arcam rHead > Hifiman HE4XX
    Discogs
  • tratliff
    tratliff Posts: 1,651
    I was not able to make it. Work got in the way.

    What front end components was Josh running?
    2 Channel Rosso Fiorentino Volterra II, 2 REL Carbon Limited, Norma Revo IPA-140B, Lumin U2 Mini, VPI Prime w/SoundSmith Zephyr MIMC, Modwright PH 150, Denon DP-59l w/Denon DL-301MKII, AudioQuest Thunderbird Speaker and Interconnect Cables, AudioQuest Niagara 7000 w/Dragon and Hurricane Power Cables
  • marvda1
    marvda1 Posts: 4,862
    Allnic phono pre, absolare integrated and pre, kodo turntable, echole speaker cables
    Amplifiers: Norma IPA 140, MasterSound Compact 845, Ayre v6xe, Consonance Cyber 800
    Preamp: deHavilland Ultraverve 3
    Dac: Sonnet Morpheus 2, Musical Paradise mp-d2 mkIII
    Transport: Jay's Audio CDT2 mk2, Lumin U1 mini
    Speakers: Rosso Fiorentino Volterra II
    Speaker Cables: Organic Audio Organic Reference 2
    Interconnects: Argento Organic Reference 2, Argento Organic 2
    Power Cables: Argento Organic Reference, Synergistic Research Foundation 10 and 12 ga.
    Puritan PSM156
  • lightman1
    lightman1 Posts: 10,776
    fz94di3c9zy4.jpg

    The Madman himself.
  • marvda1
    marvda1 Posts: 4,862
    that's that $200 per bottle scotch :D
    Amplifiers: Norma IPA 140, MasterSound Compact 845, Ayre v6xe, Consonance Cyber 800
    Preamp: deHavilland Ultraverve 3
    Dac: Sonnet Morpheus 2, Musical Paradise mp-d2 mkIII
    Transport: Jay's Audio CDT2 mk2, Lumin U1 mini
    Speakers: Rosso Fiorentino Volterra II
    Speaker Cables: Organic Audio Organic Reference 2
    Interconnects: Argento Organic Reference 2, Argento Organic 2
    Power Cables: Argento Organic Reference, Synergistic Research Foundation 10 and 12 ga.
    Puritan PSM156
  • marvda1
    marvda1 Posts: 4,862
    here we go.
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    5d4b7y2msu6b.jpg



    Amplifiers: Norma IPA 140, MasterSound Compact 845, Ayre v6xe, Consonance Cyber 800
    Preamp: deHavilland Ultraverve 3
    Dac: Sonnet Morpheus 2, Musical Paradise mp-d2 mkIII
    Transport: Jay's Audio CDT2 mk2, Lumin U1 mini
    Speakers: Rosso Fiorentino Volterra II
    Speaker Cables: Organic Audio Organic Reference 2
    Interconnects: Argento Organic Reference 2, Argento Organic 2
    Power Cables: Argento Organic Reference, Synergistic Research Foundation 10 and 12 ga.
    Puritan PSM156
  • marvda1
    marvda1 Posts: 4,862
    and
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    ivob5q9xh0qc.jpg



    Amplifiers: Norma IPA 140, MasterSound Compact 845, Ayre v6xe, Consonance Cyber 800
    Preamp: deHavilland Ultraverve 3
    Dac: Sonnet Morpheus 2, Musical Paradise mp-d2 mkIII
    Transport: Jay's Audio CDT2 mk2, Lumin U1 mini
    Speakers: Rosso Fiorentino Volterra II
    Speaker Cables: Organic Audio Organic Reference 2
    Interconnects: Argento Organic Reference 2, Argento Organic 2
    Power Cables: Argento Organic Reference, Synergistic Research Foundation 10 and 12 ga.
    Puritan PSM156
  • marvda1
    marvda1 Posts: 4,862
    and
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    Amplifiers: Norma IPA 140, MasterSound Compact 845, Ayre v6xe, Consonance Cyber 800
    Preamp: deHavilland Ultraverve 3
    Dac: Sonnet Morpheus 2, Musical Paradise mp-d2 mkIII
    Transport: Jay's Audio CDT2 mk2, Lumin U1 mini
    Speakers: Rosso Fiorentino Volterra II
    Speaker Cables: Organic Audio Organic Reference 2
    Interconnects: Argento Organic Reference 2, Argento Organic 2
    Power Cables: Argento Organic Reference, Synergistic Research Foundation 10 and 12 ga.
    Puritan PSM156
  • marvda1
    marvda1 Posts: 4,862
    and
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    gloo1mqxgwlz.jpg
    hdlig3yimm2p.jpg



    Amplifiers: Norma IPA 140, MasterSound Compact 845, Ayre v6xe, Consonance Cyber 800
    Preamp: deHavilland Ultraverve 3
    Dac: Sonnet Morpheus 2, Musical Paradise mp-d2 mkIII
    Transport: Jay's Audio CDT2 mk2, Lumin U1 mini
    Speakers: Rosso Fiorentino Volterra II
    Speaker Cables: Organic Audio Organic Reference 2
    Interconnects: Argento Organic Reference 2, Argento Organic 2
    Power Cables: Argento Organic Reference, Synergistic Research Foundation 10 and 12 ga.
    Puritan PSM156
  • marvda1
    marvda1 Posts: 4,862
    edited May 2019
    and
    r8iij4wv1kyv.jpg
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    6nvuddz1mnuo.jpg
    tlg1hyd75f37.jpg



    Amplifiers: Norma IPA 140, MasterSound Compact 845, Ayre v6xe, Consonance Cyber 800
    Preamp: deHavilland Ultraverve 3
    Dac: Sonnet Morpheus 2, Musical Paradise mp-d2 mkIII
    Transport: Jay's Audio CDT2 mk2, Lumin U1 mini
    Speakers: Rosso Fiorentino Volterra II
    Speaker Cables: Organic Audio Organic Reference 2
    Interconnects: Argento Organic Reference 2, Argento Organic 2
    Power Cables: Argento Organic Reference, Synergistic Research Foundation 10 and 12 ga.
    Puritan PSM156